Mad Men (2007-Present)
Christina Hendricks, who just scored her second Emmy nomination for Mad Men, is joining the cast of the coming-of-age comedy Struck By Lightning, written by her fellow Emmy nominee Chris Colfer.
Also boarding the project are Dermot Mulroney, who will be seen in the upcoming feature J. Edgar, and Sarah Hyland of Modern Family.
The project, which Brian Dannelly is directing, opens when Colfer’s character is struck by lightning and then, in flashback, tells the story of how he blackmailed other high school students to contribute to a literary magazine.
Allison Janney also heads the cast, which includes supporting actors Angela Kinsey, Allie Grant, Ashley Rickards, Polly Bergen, Brad Henke, Robbie Amell and Carter Jenkins.
The nominations for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards were just announced and, for the second year in a row, Christina Hendricks was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Joan Harris in AMC’s Mad Men! Congratulations to Christina for the honor, which is well deserved, I must say!
Mad Men was nominated in a total of 14 other categories, including Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Jon Hamm), Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Elisabeth Moss) and Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (John Slattery). Impressive! I believe congratulations are in order to the cast and crew all around!
The 2011 Emmy Awards will be held on Sunday, September 18 and will be broadcast on FOX.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale, Justified
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Adored by men (and envied by women) for her hourglass figure, Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks is loving every minute of her success. She talks to Lina Das about relishing her curves, marrying ‘the best husband ever’ – and modelling Vivienne Westwood’s new jewellery collection
Can there ever have been a more magnificent TV creation than Mad Men’s Joan Holloway? The indispensable office manager of Sterling Cooper and its breakaway ad agency, Joan is a woman capable of filleting secretaries with a single glance and subduing men with her incredible embonpoint (‘How does she not fall over?’ one potential client enquired).
Her majestic curves and waspish pronouncements seem to give Joan all the approachability of a lipstick-wearing crocodile, so it’s a pleasure to find that Christina Hendricks, the actress who portrays her, is not only approachable
but fun and girlie, too. ‘I love playing Joan because she’s such a departure from who I am. In season one I thought, “Oh Lord, this woman is terrifying – I couldn’t be her friend!”, but now I think I would be friends with Joan because she’s so strong and pretty wonderful,’ says Christina, adding: ‘I’d just ask her not to tell me what she really thinks all the time.’
“I’m thrilled,” a happy Matt Weiner said in a phone interview shortly after his new three-year $30 million deal for Mad Men was announced. He is going back to work tomorrow, the writers room will get up-and-running in 4-5 weeks, and production on the much-delayed Season 5 of the Emmy-winning AMC drama will start in July, the same month the fifth season was originally slated to premiere.
But the deal almost didn’t happened. “I walked away from it 4-5 times in the last few days,” said Weiner who had been objecting to several proposals made by series producer Lionsgate TV and network AMC, including shortening the episodes’ running time from 47 to 45 minutes to make room for more commercials, introducing more product placement, potentially reducing the number of regulars on the show and pushing Season 5′s premiere to March 2012. “It’s never been about money,” Weiner said. “I wanted to do the show I wanted to do and the show the audience has come to expect.”
On the cast: “The cast is safe from financial concerns” for all 3 seasons, Weiner said, adding that he reserves the right to cut actors “on creative basis.”
In terms of product placement, Weiner said that there will be no changes to the series’ existing policy. He noted that there have been only 3 instances of product placement Mad Men‘s first four seasons. “I don’t want the audience to feel they are been sold on the show,” Weiner said.
Additionally, Weiner will be able to continue to do 47-minute versions of Mad Men‘s 13-episode Season 5 for VOD, DVD and all auxiliary platforms, though on AMC, Episodes 2-12 will air 45-minute cuts made by Weiner.
After some last minute saber-rattling over product placement, episode duration, possible cast cuts and the show’s return date, Mad Men creator has come to an agreement with AMC and Lionsgate TV for a new three-year mega deal said to be in the $25-30 million range. With Weiner locked in, AMC has picked up the show for 2 more seasons, season 5 and season 6, with a seventh season a strong possibility as Weiner is now signed for it.
This paves the way for the much-delayed season 5 of Mad Men to finally go into production.
All together now: HOORAY!
Here is the joint AMC/Lionsgate release:
AMC and Lionsgate today announced the return of the iconic series Mad Men for seasons five and six with series creator Matthew Weiner back on board as showrunner. Concurrently, it was announced that Weiner has signed a new long-term deal with Lionsgate, extending into a possible seventh season. The announcements were made by Charlie Collier, president of AMC, and Kevin Beggs, president of Lionsgate Television Group.
When AMC debuted Mad Men in July 2007 it quickly became one of the most talked about series on television. Set in 1960s New York, Mad Men is a sexy and provocative original drama that follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising. Produced by Lionsgate, Mad Men has made television history as the only cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama and the Golden Globe for Best Television Series-Drama for three consecutive years.
“I want to thank all of our wonderful fans for their support.” said Weiner. “I also want to thank AMC and Lionsgate for agreeing to support the artistic freedom of myself, the cast and the crew so that we can continue to make the show exactly as we have from the beginning. I’m excited to get started on the next chapter of our story.”
Pay the man. It’s that simple.
With news that Season 5 of Mad Men won’t debut until 2012 because of negotiations between series creator Matt Weiner and AMC, all kinds of speculation is leaking out. And right now it’s just speculation because until the two sides publicly talk about what’s going on, I wouldn’t trust a word that anonymous sources are leaking to people who regularly get the facts wrong.
But whatever the price tag Weiner’s asking for, whatever the changes he’s being asked to make — more commercial time or reduction of characters allegedly among them — it’s all beside the point now. AMC and Lionsgate balked two years ago at Weiner’s salary demands and here we are again. Apparently there’s been too much distance — and too much success — at AMC to remember where they were before making Mad Men.
They were nowhere.
AMC was a second rate movie channel (and that’s being generous) until Mad Men put it on the map. No Mad Men, then probably no Breaking Bad (which itself was partly a free gift from FX). So any discussion of Mad Men‘s worth goes far, far beyond the value of the actual show as it relates to the money it brings in.
Just the amount of hype Mad Men has generated for AMC is worth every penny Weiner is asking for, because it created brand awareness in one of the most crowded and competitive businesses. Even if AMC spent $15 million in 2007 trying to point viewers to where it was on the dial, most probably wouldn’t have found it or cared to go looking. Mad Men not only gave them a reason to search, it’s greatness continued to generate what was essentially free advertising and a repeated hammer to the head of late adopters.